Lazy day in the Roger's household today! Not that I am complaining by no means.....:) But I have to say that if I am just going to be sitting here being lazy, I do wish a few good thunderstorms would roll on in and give me a reason to be lazy. What reason does a thunderstorm have for you to be lazy? Well, everyone freaks out during a storm and just sits on the couch waiting for the moment to jump up and run, but until that moment, you are glued to the couch watching the news. Secondly, no woman is capable of going out in the rain and it not messing her hair up, therefore that is a perfect reason to be sitting on the couch all day. I mean who wants to spend all that time primping and pramping, straightening, brushing, or even curling their hair all for it to just go to waste the minute you walk out the door? Exactly. Nobody! And being nobody wishes to experience this crisis in their life, sitting on the couch just sounds better with each and every roll of thunder you hear. But wait. What excuse do you have if it technically isn't storming at the moment of your laziness? You refer back to the storm you had this morning. Insist that the humidity alone will kill your hair do. Or do like me and insist that it "looks like rain outside" and keep saying this over and over. Eventually your significant other will pick up on what this "looks like outside" term truly means on a Sunday that you plan on not budging. And wait! Trying to figure out a reason to just not go anywhere or do anything for the day is one thing but finding a reason to just absolutely not get dressed and sit in pajamas is another plan that has to be mastered. Ever heard an older person warn you not to take a shower during a storm? Well, think about that and refer back to scenerio one and your hair. If it "looks like rain" then you have every right to sit there lounging away, post poning the shower to be all day long. Nobody said how soon the "looks like rain" will move in and happen so what better excuse to just sit and watch tv? I'm sure anybodys partner would want to rush them into a shower and something tragic to happen such as a lightening bolt striking through the water pipe... while you are in the line of fire. ;) And well, if the rain just never moves in, at all through out the day, well... gee, you got to sit on the couch in your pajamas all day! ha! ;) Gotta love those old granny tales!! Lord knows, my grandmother was notorious for this "no showering while it looks like rain" along with every other superstition you can imagine. I can remember staying at my grandma's in Breckinridge county during the summer months during no school and her being terrified of everything. For instance, once I was out back behind the house climbing the huge weeping willow tree in her yard and she came running out with a dish towel in her hand that seemed as if it had became more of an embellishment or accessory to her every day clothing than the pins in her hair screaming "Get out of that tree and stay out of it! If you see a green snake while up there it will laugh you to death!" Sitting there thinking about what she had just said, I naturally started looking around to see if it was true that the tree had green snakes in it. Luckily, no green snakes. But unfortunately for my granny, I did jump out and came running to the house asking a million questions about the allegation she had just told me. "what do you mean it will laugh me to death? Why would it do that? Are they that funny? Would I just be holding my stomach rolling around from laughing so hard until I die?" Needless to say, she hushed me and never answered me. I now know why. Green snakes will not laugh you to death.
And who could forget the time that the sun was setting and the sky as beet red. What most would consider to be a beautiful sunset, my granny considered it the end of the world. Thinking that the sky was on fire, she grabbed me and my cousin and put us in the car to head to my great aunts house. Luckily, my great aunt had enough sense left at the time to calm granny down and let us go back to living life without the fear of catching on fire.
Earthquakes. Although I don't believe I have ever truly been in an earthquake that I acknowledged at the time (obvious it was not a severe one.. just a tremor that you hear we had but never knew it at the moment) I can say that I lived in fear of one happening one day and night. Somewhere, somehow my granny heard about the big quake that was building up and on its way that was also past due (the one they still say we will have one day and the one that they say is still past due) and forced me and my cousin to live underneath the dining room table for a full day and night. Thinking back on this adventure, its comical that my granny was so scared and paranoid of this earthquake to the point of making us camp out under a table, yet her preparing was far from what it should be. You would think we would have at least had some bottled water. Nope. Fruit roll ups, cans of soda, and beanie wienies in a can along with some cucumbers and tomatoes. Not much of a survival kit huh? :) Which, I do have to say that this "earthquake survival camp" was by far a fun adventure. Luckily, always being petite, and being the youngest in the camp, I was one of 2 that did not have a crick in my neck from being too tall and having to turn my head to the side to sit under the table. Like every other girl, my Barbie's had been married, had babies, cooked thanksgiving dinner, put the star on the top of their Christmas tree and been in car crashes in their red Ferrari but never had they lived through an earthquake until my imagination took a toll on their "normal lives" while in the earthquake camp. And having a grandmother that forced us to camp under this table, I'm sure you can only imagine what the race was like to run to the bathroom and back. That itself turned into a game within it's own. A game between my cousin and I on who could get down the hall, use the bathroom, flush, wash hands, and make it back under the table in the least time possible.
Being my grandmother never knew how to swim, her children never knew how to swim. And being nobody could swim, the phrase "don't go near the water you'll drown" was used far too often. Didn't matter what we were doing, if it involved a liquid of any kind, you would drown. Sitting at the table as a youngster, and gargling my drink in the back of my throat was a no-no. Why? Well, you would drown. Eating too big of a spoonful of soup would also cause me to drown. Ever heard the saying "it only takes a teaspoon of water to drown?" At granny's, I heard it every single day and we lived by that.
I could literally go on and on with these tales of the happenings and sayings that's we had to live by at my granny's house, but for the sake of mankind, I will stop here. :) But before closing this, I do have to say that luckily I have been fortunate enough to realize that these sayings were just that. Sayings. Thankfully, the saying "you can only hear something so much until you start to believe it" and the saying "a kid only knows what they see and hear" are just that to me also. Sayings. Thankfully, I grew up to realize that my grandmother had just never been taught any different (or possibly refused to believe any different being we all know how old people are just set in their ways) and that these ways of life at her house were not really the ways of life. While I am thankful for growing up and realizing this, I can honestly say that I do miss these ways of life with my grandmother. And thinking about these memories at my grandmother's house, so many memories of me and my brother being there together and the things we used to do to her as jokes come to mind. Heck, the things we used to do to everyone as jokes for that matter! Maybe one day, when I have enough good spirit in me to be able to tell you all about them without being horribly depressed for a week after, I will. But until then, as Nancy Grace signs off "Goodnight Friend". ha ha! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment